Spandau Citadel - Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

Route: Berlin - Spandau Citadel - Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp - Berlin
Duration: 5 h
Firstly we will visit to  Spandau Citadel , one of the best preserved Renaissance fortresses in Europe. The Citadel is a cultural location and an island of history. Even if the Citadel fortress is only just over a mere four hundred years old – the fortress site has many stories to tell from the last 1000 years. A Slavic settlement excavated by archaeologists dates from around 1050, the oldest traces of human life here. The west curtain wall shows the remains of a Slavic wall and the later stone castle, while the Commander’s House focuses specifically on the history of the fortress. The Archeological Window offers an insight into the middle ages, and showcases medieval Jewish gravestones thought to have been taken from the Jewish cemetery as building materials.  The guided tour gives an insight into the eventful history of the town and takes you from the master builders of the 16th century to the 20th century. Next we will visit to Sachsenhausen concentration camp was built in the summer of 1936 by internees from the camps in the Emsland region. It was the first new concentration camp to be established following the appointment of Reich Leader SS Heinrich Himmler as the Chief of the German Police in July 1936. Planned on the drawing board of an SS architect, it was conceived as an ideal concentration camp giving architectural expression to the world view of the SS and intended to subject the internees to the absolute power of the SS both symbolically and in reality. As a model camp which was also used for training SS guards and as a concentration camp in close proximity to the “Reich” capital city, Sachsenhausen concentration camp enjoyed a special status.  More than 200,000 people were interned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1936 and 1945. They included political opponents of the Nazi regime, members of groups declared by the Nazis to be racially or biologically inferior, such as Jews, Sinti and Roma, and people persecuted as homosexuals, as well as so-called “career criminals” and “antisocials”. Initially, the internees were predominantly German citizens, but after the outbreak of the Second World War, tens of thousands of people were deported from the occupied territories to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, including political opponents of National Socialism or of the collaborating governments, foreign forced labourers and Allied prisoners of war. In 1944, around 90 % of the internees were foreigners, with citizens of the Soviet Union and Poland forming the largest groups. There were also around 20,000 women among the internees in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. During this visit, we'll learn about the prisoner's daily working routine and life, and about the buildings that are still standing today. This, together with the various monuments placed by different ideologies throughout the years, will help us understand the complex history of the camp. You will know about The death marches exposition, Tower A safety measures and punishments,  Small camp: barracks 38 and 39, Camp prison, Kitchen and laundry room,1961 Soviet Monument, Station Z,Infirmary and Morgue. After we return to Berlin.
Price: per person